


baby, you paint over my life

by softtofustew



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Day6 - Freeform, DoPil, Fluff, Jaehyungparkian, M/M, Summer road trip, Unrequited, its damn hot, jae is a bit of a bitch in this one, road trip down south korea, slight angst ish, slight sungpil but nothing much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 01:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15402381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softtofustew/pseuds/softtofustew
Summary: the gang spends one last summer together on a road trip, just a normal long ass ride down south korea - or so sungjin thinks.





	baby, you paint over my life

**Author's Note:**

> title : stop the rain // day6  
> hope y'all enjoy this one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> down a winding road they go

the sun beats down on them as sungjin closes the trunk close with a slam, thunk, click. a sweat bead rolls from his forehead and sizzles away on the gravel road as he wipes as his brow. inside, brian and jae are fighting over who’s going to get sandwiched in the middle seat, whilst wonpil is already fiddling with the aux chord. from the doorway, dowoon is visibly struggling to fix the key into the door knob while juggling his bags at his feet from rolling down the steps.

sungjin sighs, before wiping his palms on the denim of his jeans. he strides up to the youngest, before retrieving the key and locking the door shut for him.

dowoon glimpses up meekly. “thanks, hyung. had a bit of trouble there.”

the older one simply shrugs, before bending down to take up an ugly patched duffle bag from dowoon’s feet. “no problem. you’ve turned off the mains electricity, right? i don’t want the bill to hit the roof again,” he tuts, and dowoon turns even redder at the clear memory of leaving for hong kong the previous year and forgetting to switch the air-conditioning off. not only was their living room freezing away in winter, their stares on the electricity bill had been frozen in place, too.

“yes, hyung.”

sungjin chuckles at the younger’s sheepishness, slapping a hand on the back. “c’mon, i think the others are fighting over the seats; get them settled, yeah?”

just as well, really, because after sungjin heaves the bags into the trunk and slides into his own seat at the wheel, jae and brian have settled down, though a sour expression remains on jae’s face even after the engine starts. “i just don’t get why you bugged me into getting the middle seat, woon,” jae clicks his tongue in annoyance.

brian chortles with laughter. “too bad. that’s ‘cause you’re the only one who can fit in.”

“because you’re too fa-”

“okay, guys, pipe down,” sungjin cuts in, knowing all too well where this conversation ( _argument_ seems like a better word) is heading for. his eyes trail back to the road before him. switching to drive, the pick-up truck startles to life, before taking off. after a minute or two of silence, wonpil finally selects a song to listen to. jae’s eyebrows furrow at the selection.

“triple h? doesn’t scream road trip vibes to me,” jae raises his voice over the music. wonpil pointedly ignores him, instead closing his eyes. _too hot_ , he thinks, before reaching out to turn the air-conditioning down lower. sungjin tsks, before swatting at wonpil’s hand. (“just wait, it’ll get colder, okay?” “it’s so hooooot hyung.”)

“that’s because i’m here!” dowoon inputs excitedly, but no one seems to respond, because jae’s scrolling through his twitter feed, brian’s already halfway to slumberland, and the two at the front are bickering over the temperature. (wonpil eventually wins, because he insists sungjin be a ‘good hyung’. sungjin absolutely despises it, honestly, the _guilt-tripping_.)

after a moment or two of winding down familiar streets, sungjin glances at wonpil out of the corner of his eye. “can you bring up the gps? i know chuncheon’s about an hour away,” sungjin requests, mentioning the first stop to their road trip. honestly? sungjin’s got a whole list of stops and places to visit at each stop, but seeing the lack of enthusiasm in his other friends (well, excluding dowoon, whose nose is pressed against the glass of the window), he’s beginning to rethink his idea for a summer getaway.

more like a summer hellaway.

the suggestion had been laid across the table about two months back, with finals near the brink of beginning. they’re going to graduate, part ways for university: sungjin’s aiming for something in architecture, jae’s going to ‘wing it’ (but everyone knows his intention is music), brian wants to delve into business management ( _god forbid_ , jae had snorted). wonpil probably wants to dive into culinary arts - he’s improved a tad bit from his near-fire back in their seventh year - and dowoon probably wants to take a gap year to think through it.

all in all, they’re separating, and the thought of it had upset sungjin. still upsets him, actually, though he’s not quite sure if the feeling’s reciprocated by the others. he’d mentioned the idea at the back of his mind while they were eating lunch, and wonpil had almost choked on his spaghetti.

the thought of sharing a car for a week or so? motels? culture shock, they all think.

anyways, no one had argued, which seems so since all of them are piled in the car. in the backseat, jae almost suffocates, his arms glued to his sides since brian’s so broad and dowoon’s got his bag between them. jae sighs, trying to concentrate on replying to a tweet when brian’s head suddenly lolls onto jae’s shoulder.

the older boy sucks in a breath at the sudden contact, his nose scrunching up. brian smells of sweat and salt and a bit of that shampoo he shares with wonpil (“what? it’s mutual like for the smell, mi amigo,” brian had argued when jae had questioned him about it a while back. “jealous that we don’t have that mutualism?”). jae frowns as brian’s arms wrap around his own body, as if embracing himself. it dawns upon jae that it’s the lack of his bolster; jae should know that brian always, always sleeps with a pillow in a tight hug.

bending down, he retrieves his own duffle bag from his feet and fixates it in brian’s hold, prying his arms away from his chest. immediately, brian groans in his sleep, before hugging onto the bag fiercely. jae sighs, before glancing back at his phone screen.

next to him, dowoon glimpses out of the car window, the buildings and trees and people a blurry haze rushing past all at once as the truck zooms by. he’d been pretty exhilarated for the trip, considering he’s got plans jotted down for a getaway at jeju island with a few relatives and a whole vacation at canada by himself, away from his friends.

he glances over at the front of the car, where sungjin and wonpil have found themselves in a fluent conversation. dowoon smiles a little to himself, but his lips fail to hide the disappointment laced in them, before he stares down at his worn-out sneakers.

“my battery’s almost dead,” wonpil is heard from the front seat. dowoon’s ears perk up.

“really? i have my phone charge-”

“-tsk,” sungjin interrupts, as if he hadn’t even heard a word from dowoon. “i told you to charge it. i left mine back at home. now, how are we supposed to use the gps?”

from behind them, the oldest tuts. “y’all aren’t touching my phone. and brian’s one is stuck in his pocket; i’m not going to wake sleeping beauty here.”

wonpil giggles knowingly. “are you implying hyung is beautiful?” he teases, to which jae flushes harshly in the most crimson of reds. “no!” he counters defiantly, before huffing and continuing to scroll through his phone. dowoon inwardly sighs.

“woonie? what about you?” dowoon’s eyes glaze over the boy’s features as wonpil stares at the other, a smile playing on his lips. his eyes are bright and a clear brown under the glittering sunlight, hair a mess after fighting over the last piece of bacon in the kitchen earlier this morning with jae. _i don’t think i can say no, can i?_

dowoon fishes for his phone in his duffel bag, before stretching his arm out to wonpil, phone in a loose grip on his fingers. “here-” wonpil takes it gently, fingertips brushing against each other in the softest of skin; now it’s the youngest one’s turn to flush as the boxy smile appears across wonpil’s face.

“thanks, hyung!” wonpil replies, before flicking his finger across the screen and typing in the password (they have the same password: screwoffjae) and within seconds has the map lit on the screen. “sungjin, uh, you just took the wrong turn-”

“-goddammit,” sungjin sighs, rubbing at his temples. “it’s going to be a long day.”

 

 **___________** ****  


 

half an hour in and sungjin accidentally zooms over a speed bump, sending everyone wailing and brian knocking his head against the glass of the car window, promptly waking him up.

“for hell's sake-” brian groans, rubbing the offending spot on his head, probably slowly sporting a blue-black bruise as the seconds tick by. he plonks the duffel bag in his arms onto the floor of the car, before groaning over the imminent pain. jae tsks, muttering under his breath about “inexperienced drivers, did he even pass his test?” to which sungjin retorts defiantly, “of course!”, before promptly missing the next turn. (again.)

jae grumbles under his breath. “can we get some food? it’s past noon already and my butt hurts.”

“your _non-existent_ butt, you mean,” brian adds tauntingly, before attempting to get back to sleep, only to be smacked in the arm by jae. “ow! what was that for, dammit?”

“for being a jerk,” jae shoots back, to which brian pokes his tongue out at. at the driver’s seat, sungjin rolls his eyes, exhausted from staring at the road ahead and fed up with his friends’ stupid feuds. out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of a sign for mcdonald’s, praises the lords and steers the car into drive-through. _thank god._

sungjin claps his hands together, catching everyone’s attention. “alright! so! what shall we get?”

from beside him, wonpil perks up. “can i get a chicken drumstick?” he asks sweetly, boxy smile leaking saccharine, to which jae rolls his eyes at and to which dowoon only stares at for the better good of no reason. sungjin nods, before facing the others.

brian licks his lips, dry and chapped from his nap. “i’ll get the same. with fries, yeah?”

“sure. dowoon? jae?”

“bulgogi burger for me, thanks,” jae answers from the middle seat.

dowoon chews on his lower lip. “i’ll just get fries. not hungry,” he replies sheepishly.

with that, sungjin drives the truck to the drive-through counter, orders, and within minutes the vehicle is parked at the side of the road as everyone munches quietly on their lunch, music playing softly in the background. dowoon chews on his fries slowly, the afternoon sun shining vividly against him through the glass windows. in fact, now, the sun is blazing strongly, light glazing over the truck strongly in waves of heat. sungjin turns the air-conditioning down a notch at the sight of perspiration running down brian’s forehead.

between bites, jae groans. “it’s so fucking hot, how am i supposed to _eat_ in this weather?”

“be grateful that you’re not driving, chump,” sungjin responds firmly, shutting jae and his complaints up. he finishes his burger, gears the vehicle back to drive and off they go again, whizzing down the road to their stop in chuncheon. it isn’t even a mere minute before the vehicle slows to a squeaky halt.

jae glimpses up from his phone screen. “ _now_ what?’

his eyes on the phone screen, wonpil frowns, furrowing his eyebrows. “we’re stuck in a jam. gps says it’s gonna last at least an hour.” just as the words leave his lips, thunder claps overhead, and everyone (except jae) pokes their heads out the window to denote the dark clouds rumbling from east, making their way downtown.

“make that two hours,” dowoon adds.

 

**_______________**

 

 _three_ hours, actually.

“for _fuck’s_ sake!” jae whines probably the fifth time that afternoon as they whiz by the sign ‘chuncheon: 2km’. “my phone died.”

beside him, brian is jolted awake. outside, the tumultuous rain pours in torrents, pittering and pattering harshly against the hood of the car. late afternoon is a scarily dark atmosphere lingering in the air, no stars or sun to light their way, only the fair streetlights overhead casting long shadows. the wipers squeak noisily as they scrape away the droplets on the front window.

“did you have to shout so loud?” brian murmurs, before allowing his head to loll onto jae’s shoulder. (his head hurts from leaning against the juttering car door.) at the contact, jae whines again, leaning over to dowoon, who squeals in surprise. “hyung,” brian whimpers, wrapping his arms around jae’s left arm. “let me sleep on you-”

“-no, stop it-”

“-but jaehyungie-”

“-sleep by yourself, goddammit-”

“-hyung ah-”

“-can the both of you shut _up_ already?”

the two abruptly pause at sungjin’s aggressive tone, and who can blame him? driving for so long has driven his own self nuts, staring at the road and preventing slips and slides and careless drivers beating the red lights and clueless passers-by in the cold rain. he’s irritated, and the both of his friends are not helping. _at all_.

with that, brian slowly retracts his arms, instead placing his palms flat on his jean-clad thighs. the other scratches his neck, before uttering a hushed, “sorry”. “it’s fine,” brian replies gruffly, his eyes glued to the scenery outside. dowoon is stiff and sombre at the backseat, alongside wonpil at shotgun, who’s awkwardly playing with the hem of his sweatshirt.

if they can’t handle a few hours together in such an enclosed space, how can they expect to survive the whole of the rest of the week?

 

**_______________**

 

eventually, they _do_ arrive at chuncheon and manage to stretch out their limbs, groaning at the creak of bones and the crack of joints as they stroll down walkways along the pretty city, less bustling than seoul but still thriving under the sunshine, which had made a reappearance a while ago after the rainclouds had passed by. dowoon takes a few scenic photos before inviting everyone to take a selca together next to some blossoming flowers.

“okay,” sungjin huffs, retrieving a map he’d dug out from his luggage bag in the trunk. he scrutinises it carefully. “we need to find a motel to sleep for the night, then head for dinner. i think there’s a motel just a few minutes from here.” he creases the map in half. “let’s go.”

wonpil almost skips in between sungjin and dowoon, with a moodless jae lingering behind and brian in the middle of the group, munching on chips as they weave their way down streets, taking in the sights of the city. they’d abandoned their truck in a carpark not too far away, since everyone had wanted to head out and take a breath of fresh air.

sweat is just beginning to dot brian’s forehead when they halt in front of a rather posh motel. with that, sungjin enters, and not even five minutes later, he’s back out, frown evident on his lips.

“they’re full,” he explains slowly. “but it’s okay. the lady mentioned there being a few more motels around here.”

so off they go again, but the rest of their finds produce no treasure, it seems. every motel is either full or too expensive to stay in for five. they’re on a tight budget, intending to stay overnight at cheap places only throughout their road trip, but as they walk back to their truck miserably, it seems like their plan is bubbling down to nothing.

dowoon kicks at a pebble as they near the vehicle. “so, how now?”

the oldest sighs, scratching at his hair. “if we don’t have a place to stay for the night, shouldn’t we just head off to our next stop?” jae suggests inquisitively, yearning for a bed and bathroom.

“andong is two hours away,” sungjin points out, before glancing quickly at his wristwatch. “way too late for that. we took off late, plus the heavy traffic stalled us. i’m beat, unless one of y’all want to drive us there,” he adds, exchanging glances with his other friends. brian stares at his shoes, jae coughing into his fist.

brian suddenly perks up. “how about we just sleep in the car?”

“are you crazy?” jae blurts, bug-eyed as he peers at his friend beside him. “we’re going to suffocate in this sweltering heat, alright? suffocate and die!” his arms wave dismissively in the air, but his actions don’t seem to influence the others, for wonpil is thoughtful and dowoon just agrees with brian because wonpil is.

sungjin clasps his hands together. “sounds like a plan. i mean, the night is quite cooling, so there shouldn’t be a problem with that,” he elaborates, and everyone else is nodding their heads in agreement, all except for jae, who remains skeptical the entire time they walk to a western diner to grab dinner.

 

**_______________**

 

sungjin is _so_ wrong. it’s so fucking hot that jae can feel his thin tee sticking uncomfortably to his back from all the sweat rushing down. wonpil and sungjin have their chairs reclined, and dowoon is splayed across the backseat, leaving jae miniscule space to even sit, let alone drape his long limbs over the car floor.

grumbling, he struggles to click the door open and stumbles out of the truck, exhaustion evident in his eyebags. outside, the stuffy air practically engulfs him. lips chapped, he heads for the trunk to grab a drink to quench his thirst, when he hears a rustling of sheets at the back. jae freezes.

from his position at the door, he notes the tarp over the trunk laying over one side, revealing a body shifting about. his heart races with giddiness and nerves until the head turns. a silver earring glitters brightly under the starlight in the sky, and jae heaves a deep sigh of relief.

he shuffles around to the back of the trunk, which is swung open, showing brian leaning against the truck, luggage bags surrounding him. his eyes are hazy, scanning jae, and the other boy flushes at the sight of the soju bottle in the younger’s hand.

“hey,” jae murmurs, leaping onto the trunk of the vehicle. it shudders under his weight as jae crawls over. he plonks himself beside brian, who only stares at him wordlessly. jae gulps down the air. “what’re you doing here?”

“could ask you the same thing,” brian replies, his words dragged out in a slur, voice deep and heavy from the alcohol. jae’s head spins.

“i asked first,” jae counters, before poking his chin out at the bottle in his friend’s hand. “what’s up with that?”

brian giggles, the sound almost melodious. “sooo cramped inside. came out here to drink. think,” he responds quietly, his eyes now trailing the cars whizzing by. they’ve parked by the side of the road, upon realisation of the carpark ticket prices. the hustle of the city is bright and ablaze with colour and life, jae notes, before brian glimpses back at jae.

jae frowns a little. “thinking about what?”

“stuff,” brian murmurs, before taking a sip. “been thinking a lot lately. about things. people.” he stops himself. “person,” he corrects himself, his voice so soft that jae almost doesn’t catch it - but he does, and his heart is burning.

of course - brian hardly ever drinks, only either when he’s cheerful and in a celebratory mood, or when he’s moody and glum and thoughtful all at once. jae inches closer, his eyes focused on the bottle. “you secretly dating someone, bribri?” jae teases.

brian flinches. “no,” he responds. takes another sip. “what’re _you_ doing here?”

“i wanted to get a drink,” jae answers, equally quiet. at his words, brian hands jae the bottle. “no, i don’t-” but brian’s gaze is fierce and soft all at once, eyes still tracing jae, jae’s eyes, jae’s nose, jae’s lips, so fiercely that the older boy takes up the bottle and drinks from the mouth of it. the liquid burns a trail down his throat.

a small smile plays on brian’s lips. “that’s it, hyung,” he slurs, and jae almost visibly jerks from the honorific. it’s always ‘jae’, ‘jerk’, ‘jaehyungie’, but never _hyung_. only wonpil and dowoon call him that. the term is foreign coming from brian’s lips, but jae decides to relish it. drunk brian might be the only time he’ll ever hear that.

a long silence, followed by jae, “so who’s the special person?” he asks out of pure curiosity. not that he’s wondering, no. just… curious.

brian guffaws. “why should i tell you?” he challenges, giving jae a one-over.

“because we’re friends?” jae tries, to which brian only scoffs and takes yet another sip. _he’s going to wake with a maddening headache_ , jae thinks, as brian wipes at his lips, slick with soju.

“we are? doesn’t seem like it,” brian retorts. “all you do is complain about me and my actions and how i’m always sucking up to people and how i always get into relationships then break up with them and how i shouldn’t be so selfish and shit like that,” he adds, his eyes now furious slits. “and you call me a ‘friend’? frankly, i think it’s one-sided.”

guilt eats jae up. “look, brian, about that-”

“-i don’t want to hear it,” brian cuts him off, leaning even closer, so close that their hands are brushing each other, their breaths mingling in the same space. “the only times you’ve ever cared about me were when i failed my double maths quiz last december and when shiyon broke up with me last summer. grand total? two.”

jae bites his lower lip. “look, brian, i care about you way more than that-”

“-then why are you always picking a fight with me? why are you always the one arguing with me? why are you alwa-”

“because i’m scared, okay!” jae screams back in anguish, and it shuts brian up. brian only gawks at him, baffled. light-headed, jae continues, “because i’m so fucking scared, because you’re always there for me but i don’t know what to say or what to do or-”

wordlessly, brian kisses jae.

the bottle clutters from brian’s hands as they kiss heavily, jae cupping brian’s cheeks, lips searing burns on each other. brian’s fingers fist the hem of jae’s shirt. their chests bump together, and they both heave from how warm the other is, how fast their hearts are beating, and they seal the gap between them even tighter. insistently, jae wraps his arms around brian, and brian gasps for breath as he swings his legs over so they’re flanking either side of jae. the truck grumbles under their weight, there’s soju leaking everywhere but neither of them give a damn as they keep at it, heavy and full of lust. _and love._

yeah, okay, the truth: jae's thought about kissing his friend far more times than deemed appropriate, but because he's a wimp, because he's such a big fucking asshole, because he'd rather taunt his best friend rather than owe up to his feelings, he's never, ever, had the goddamned confidence to initiate anything until now; admittedly, brian kisses _good_. he tastes of cheap soju and salt and warmth, if warmth had a taste. _god_ , jae thinks, to think he'd have the real thing before summer ends and they-

at the thought of it, though, jae abruptly jerks away from brian, breaking the kiss. brian leans closer, whimpering from loss of contact, and it’s the prettiest noise in the world, but jae shoves the other boy away, sending him toppling backwards, confusement all over his face.

“j-jae, what are you-”

“-w-we can’t,” jae cuts him off, frantic. he pushes his hair away from his forehead, his mind running crazily to no end. “no, no, we- i can’t. we’re parting in one month, brian, i can’t…” his voice trails off as jae scrambles to his feet, legs shaking, knees knobbly as he hurries out of the trunk, throws the backseat door open, plonks onto his seat and bursts into tears.

in the trunk, brian touches his lips lightly with his fingertips, dazed. vision hazy, his mind replays the kiss over and over again, the look on jae’s face, the calloused hands roaming over his cheeks, the tears in his eyes before he’d rushed off. brian curls himself up into a ball, lies down and shuts his eyes close, a lone tear rolling down his cheek.

it’s not the end of it, though. really, the flower is just beginning the bloom after the rain.

  


**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/softtofustew_) // [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/softtofustew_) // [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/softtofustew)


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